Posted on 08/31/2012 1:20:33 PM PDT by Noremac
Reflections on Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech;
I watched Romney’s entire speech and while listening, took some mental notations. To just set the tone for my personal perspective, let me preface my thoughts with the following.
First, I think the GOP nomination process served up to us a very weak and poorly qualified cast of participants. Each had some strengths, but all had more deficits than they had surpluses. With the exception of Ron Paul, every nominee, to one degree or another, had a track record that involved support of the GOP party establishment.
They all had votes and positions that contradicted reasonable expectations of conservatism, even in its widest definition. Romney, by virtue of spending incredible sums of money, became merely the ‘last man standing’, nothing more.
So, I will say with regard to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and all the other parts and pieces that will ultimately be brought together in a Romney Administration, that the nominee and its entourage is guilty until proven innocent.
How much of Romney’s supposedly newfound ‘severe conservatism’ will survive his instincts to adulterate principal, for the sake of broad acceptance? We don’t know, but we are justified and wise to be strongly suspicious.
The media talking heads are focused in on trivia, such as the ‘likeability’ factor. That’s a meaningless and irrelevant factor. Romney is not going to be elected because of his ‘likeability’ or lack thereof. If Romney had the ‘trust’ quotient working for him, the polls would already reflect a landslide for his ticket. He does not have that. He’s never earned it. This election remains, even after this convention, a referendum on Obama.
On to the speech and my personal observations as to the strengths, weaknesses and question marks:
Strengths:
Strong emphasis on the importance of parents loving and teaching children and being examples and role models to them. Focus on getting Americans back to work and making the path straight for job creation in the private sector. A firm commitment to energy development in the United States. Pledging to restore an environment for small businesses to succeed and grow. Respect for the role of women in American success and a recognition of the role of homemaker. Emphasis on balancing the budget and reducing debt. Scored a point on how running a successful business is a proper model for effective governance.
Weaknesses:
Didn’t propose smaller government conforming to constitutional restrictions. Didn’t advocate the elimination of cabinet agencies that are not provided for in the constitutional scope of government. Didn’t deal with the growth of and the potential for abuse by the emerging Police State. Failed to confront the need to aggressively deal with Illegal immigration by increased enforcement, implementing e-Verify and reversing Obama’s executive orders. Alluded to more military interventionism and more injudicious increases in the defense budget. There was no acknowledgment of the significance of the Tea Party in the resurgence of the GOP.
Question Marks:
1. Will Romney be a rubber stamp for more ‘stimulus’ spending, more ‘too big to fail’, more bailouts and more rent seeking from the Wall Street banksters.
2. Will Romney follow through on his pledge to remove and replace Obamacare? What will he replace it with? His campaign policy briefings seem to champion the free market, but we heard nothing of this in the speech.
3. Will Romney effect a genuine changing of the guard at the Pentagon and reverse the trend of accommodation and appeasement of Islam in the armed forces?
4. Will Romney conveniently forget his pledge to advocate an audit of the Federal Reserve?
You probably have other questions of your own. One thing I am certain of is that we didn’t learn much from this Dog and Pony show down in Tampa. The people who were sitting in the audience cheering Romney, are by and large, your garden variety ‘party faithful’.
They are generally cut from the same cloth as what I called the ‘Bush Bots’. I don’t mean that in a spirit of disrespect. Certainly there are a lot of good people there, who trust that the party will lead them back to the wonderful days of Republicans in power and all the lip service to conservatism that rises like those Red White and Blue balloons at the Grand Finale with great expectations, but gets burst on the pins of reality.
The reality I refer to is that the GOP, just like the Democrat party, is a tricked out Limo for the special interests, the large corporations, the defense industry and the investment class. They are the V.I.P.’s and you are the drones.
Nothing that I have seen this week gives me a greater level of enthusiasm for pulling the lever for Mitt Romney. Nothing that I’ve seen has significantly lessened my resolve in doing so. I’m voting defensively.
There is no question in my mind that despite the reservations that I still have concerning Mitt Romney, I absolutely know what is in store for us in an Obama 2nd term. Don’t bother telling me that Romney is not a conservative. I know what he is. I’m not harboring illusions.
My strategic thinking on this continues to be that we need to apply the brakes on the runaway train. Once we get to that point, we can leverage our influence on the party that is most vulnerable to our arguments for restoring constitutional governance and the rule of law.
Right now, the patient, (America), is in triage.
Fair analysis.
After the convention, I at least have hope Romney truly will govern as a conservative. I can’t be sure, but he certainly gave every indication that he will.
One thing for certain, there is zero chance Obama will. Since my personal policy is to try to always vote for the most conservative candidate running, it makes my decision an easy one.
Been here since June 27, 2012....
It’s funny how the left expects Romney to lay out all the specifics of a four-year presidency in less than an hour, when obama has laid out less than an hour of his presidency in four years.
“Been here since June 27, 2012....”
...and every post has been to blastedfools.com....pimp.
>2. Will Romney follow through on his pledge to remove and replace Obamacare? What will he replace it with? His campaign policy briefings seem to champion the free market, but we heard nothing of this in the speech.
This is pure nonsense, it has been answered over and over and over....
The proposal would allow for interstate free-market purchase of portable insurance... it is out there folks if spend time looking for it.
Weaknesses:
Failed to confront the need to aggressively deal with Illegal immigration by increased enforcement, implementing e-Verify and reversing Obama’s executive orders
______________________________________________
Actually Willard did address the horrific illegal aliens travesty when he said we are “a nation of immigrants” but we know thats a favorite phrase of the pro-AMNESTY crowd...
So no Willard NEVER said he would do anything to deport the 30 MILLION illegal aliens present illegally in our country...
Not did he say he would discourage more from illegally crossing our borders...
A number of liberal Romney workers have joined FR in the past few days and past month. There are so many, it has to be a coordinated effort from the Romney camp.
I thought this was a conservative forum - maybe I am wrong.
Couple points on that:
"we are a nation of immigrants" also invokes fond memories of those with ancestors and grandparents who risked everything to come to America from foreign lands LEGALLY---the new immigrants worked hard to get the American Dream---they DID NOT loot the US govt. So that phrase could and should strengthen sentiments against amnesty.
Mormons consider themselves internationalists---they travel the world looking for converts. I believe Mitt himself went abroad as a young Mormon missionary.
Mormmons also had a Mideast presence---until Israel threw them out b/c they were converting Jews. Wonder if Mitt's friend Benjy is gonna let them back in----maybe he will, if Pres Mitt bombs Iran (/s).
Granted, there were no outward anti-amnesty expressions---but then again Mitt, Rubio and Ryan---none of them sucked up. The latino contingent at the convention was barely recognized.
I still contend that the open borders crowd were waiting for latino point man Rubio to tip them off about Mitt's policies---but Marco was apparently told to cool it (every convention speech had to be ok'ed by the Romney team). I also think Rubio fully expected to be picked as VP, but he made Mitt's people nervous in pre-convention appearances.......with his constant chatter about amnesty issues.....and his idiotic "we're taking over" smirk.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.